BioTime provides update on Cell Cure's product development, partneringBioTime (BTX) and its subsidiary Cell Cure Neurosciences provided an update on Cell Cure’s product development and partnering activities. On February 16, Cell Cure opened the clinical trial of OpRegen titled “Phase I/IIa Dose Escalation Safety and Efficacy Study of Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells Transplanted Subretinally in Patients with Advanced Dry-Form Age-Related Macular Degeneration with Geographic Atrophy” at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel. Patient enrollment is expected to begin shortly. OpRegen consists of animal product-free retinal pigment epithelial cells with high purity and potency. On October 31, 2014, the FDA cleared Cell Cure's Investigational New Drug application to initiate the clinical trial of OpRegen in patients with the severe form of age-related macular degeneration with geographic atrophy.The Phase I/IIa clinical trial, will evaluate three different dose regimens of OpRegen. Following transplantation, the patients will be followed for 12 months at specified intervals, to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the product. Following the initial 12 month period, patients will continue to be monitored at longer intervals for an additional period of time. A secondary objective of the clinical trial will be to examine the ability of transplanted OpRegen to engraft, survive, and moderate disease progression in the patients. In addition to thorough characterization of visual function, a battery of ophthalmic imaging modalities will be used to quantify structural changes and rate of GA expansion. Cell Cure also announced that the option granted to Teva (TEVA) under a Research and Exclusive Option Agreement of October 7, 2010 to license-in rights to its OpRegen product has expired without having been exercised by Teva. Cell Cure will therefore be continuing the clinical development of OpRegen on its own and pursuing discussions with other potential strategic partners, including those that have already indicated interest in participating in development and commercialization of the product. Cell Cure also announced that US patent No. 8,956,866 relating to a proprietary method of manufacturing RPE cells is expected to issue on February 17. This patent combined with other patents and patent applications in the BioTime family of companies provides significant patent protection for this novel therapeutic modality for AMD.

Micron upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at MacquarieMacquarie upgraded Micron to Outperform with a $40 price target based on expectations memory medium-term pricing trends will remain stable given structural supply constraints, which could result in $5B in free-cash-flow in CY16.

Teva, Eagle enter license agreement for EP-3102Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA) and Eagle Pharmaceuticals (EGRX) announce that the companies have entered into an exclusive license agreement for EP-3102, Eagle’s bendamustine hydrochloride rapid infusion product for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Teva will be responsible for all U.S. commercial activities for the product including promotion and distribution. Eagle has responsibility for obtaining all regulatory approvals, conducting post-approval clinical studies, if required, and initially supplying drug product to Teva. As part of the agreement, Teva will waive its orphan drug exclusivities for NHL and CLL with respect to EP-3102, which should allow the product to come to market more quickly. Under the terms of the exclusive license agreement, Eagle will receive an upfront cash payment of $30M and is eligible to receive up to $90M in additional milestone payments. In addition, Eagle will receive double-digit royalties on net sales of the product, assuming FDA approval. The companies will also settle the pending patent infringement action between them.